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Magnetic Motor Generator

In each case, the fulcrum -- what makes the device work -- is the interaction of
magnets. Electromagnets in a motor impart motion either to other electromagnets or
to permanent magnets, which move a drive train. In a generator, the motion of a drive
train passes magnets through each other's magnetic fields, which generates an electric
current.

In most cases, the ultimate source of energy converted into electricity
by a generator is clear and uncontroversial. There is a highly controversial form
of energy production advocated by some, however, which relies on the fact that the
earth itself has a magnetic field, and on interaction with this magnetic field to
drive a generator.

Perpetual Motion

The idea of a magnet-based generator using the earth's magnetic field as a power
source is sometimes confused with a different idea: perpetual motion. If a magnet
generator works, it still would not be perpetual motion anymore than a hydroelectric
generator is. Both would be making use of a large-scale process to generate electricity
without the need for fuel.

Perpetual motion is a physical impossibility. It violates
the second law of thermodynamics, which is a very basic and universal rule of physics.
Even a generator powered by the earth's magnetic field would eventually run down,
either as the planet loses its magnetic charge over a very long time, or (more likely)
as the "permanent" magnets incorporated into the generator lose theirs. There is
no such thing as perpetual motion, and any claim that energy can be produced on that
basis may safely be dismissed.

Free Energy

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as free energy, either. However, we can
come a lot closer to free energy than we can to perpetual motion. In fact, the earth
receives an enormous amount of free energy from the sun. This free energy powers
not only solar energy but also wind energy and hydroelectric power. (Solar energy
is what creates the air temperature differentials that produce wind. Solar energy
also causes evaporation, which becomes rain, which collects as rivers and powers
hydroelectric turbines.) In a sense it isn't "free," in that some effort is required
to convert it into usable form, but we don't have to do anything to produce the energy
itself. It's produced for us by nature free of charge.

Energy from the Earth's magnetic
field would be "free" in the same sense as solar energy. The question is how much
energy could be so produced. If you ask a physicist or electrical engineer about
this possibility, you may hear that a static field cannot produce an electric charge.
That's true. However, the Earth's magnetic field isn't static. It fluctuates, and
it is these fluctuations in the magnetic field that conceivably could represent an
energy source.

The question, again, is how much energy could be produced from them.
We can use Faraday's law to generate this amount, and the answer comes up to something
like 3.14?10^-9 volts (three one-billionths of a volt) per square meter of magnet
surface taking advantage of the flux. The answer would appear to be that while energy
from the Earth's magnetic field is technically, theoretically possible, it isn't
possible to produce it on a significant scale or to generate usable amounts of power.

A magnetic motor generator is a generator based on the principle of the magnetic
motor. In a sense, all generators are magnetic motor generators, unless one considers
a non-moving mechanism for producing electricity such as a solar cell to be a "generator."
But aside from that, a generator (as the word is normally used) is a device for turning
kinetic energy into electric current. Where the kinetic energy comes from is irrelevant.
It could be from hot gas or steam heated by a burning fuel or nuclear reaction, from
moving water as in a hydroelectric turbine, or from the wind as in a wind turbine.

The principle is the same as in a magnetic motor such as one can find in an appliance,
but the direction of conversion is the opposite from a motor. In a motor, instead
of kinetic energy being converted into electricity, electricity is converted into
kinetic energy.

Research

To be sure, one can never say with finality that something like this is impossible.
It is conceivable that future research could find ways to generate power from the
Earth's magnetic field that will work better than our current understanding of the
laws of physics would suggest. However, one must distinguish between real research
and something that only pretends to be research.

One may find online, with a search
for "free energy" or "magnet power" or "power from the magnetic field," personal,
anecdotal claims of having produced so many kilowatts of electricity from a magnet
generator employing the Earth's magnetic field or some unspecified power source.
Often these claims accompany an offer to provide plans for the free energy generator
for a small fee, say around $50. Sometimes the claims and the offer are couched in
a context of claimed attempts by the power companies and/or the government to shut
down the offer before it can challenge the power companies' monopoly or cut into
their profits.

The best advice one can give in regard to such claims is to look through
them carefully for reference to genuine scientific research that can be looked up
oneself. Bear in mind that there are already many well-established ways to generate
power at home, such as a home solar system or wind generator, and these are not in
any danger of being shut down by the utility companies or the government. In fact,
the government requires utility companies to facilitate such home energy systems
by providing net metering arrangements by which a home owner can sell power back
to the utility for a credit. Claims that magnet energy information is about to be
shut down by all-powerful energy utilities or their lackeys in the government seem
less than credible given that reality.

A properly skeptical, but at the same time
open minded, approach to magnet power would be to remain willing to look at evidence
in support of its feasibility, but to require proof of that feasibility before actually
paying any money for plans to produce it.